Why do people wrongly think Jesus was married?

[BornInMarch]

Jesus Christ was never married. Not to Mary Magdalene, and not to anyone else. In fact, Jesus was a celibate virgin during his whole life.

Why did Gnostics think otherwise?
Why do some people today still think otherwise?

 

[Trisceptorc]

I don’t know why the Gnostics specifically thought that Jesus was married, but I’ll go over a few of the evidences people use in favor of Jesus being married. Since the majority of peole who believe that Jesus was married would say that he was married to Mary Magdalene, I’ll address whether Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married.

–Evidences in Favor of Jesus being Married–

Jews in Jesus’ day were basically all married by a certain age. For Jesus to be unmarried would have been VERY unusual; virtually unheard of. However, some philosophers at the time speak of a few men who willingly choose not to marry, so there may have been a growing trend to be single.

From scripture, we know that Mary Magdalene (among other women) followed Jesus. Some are mentioned in Luke 8:1-3. What is strange here is that rabbis at this time didn’t typically include women in their followings or teachings. What is special about Mary Magdalene is that she appears to be one of Jesus’ closest followers, and is even a witness to seeing Jesus rise from the dead.

Additional text about Mary Magdalene’s close relationship with Jesus can be found in extra-canonical gospels, such as the gospels of Thomas, Peter, and Phillip. (However, none of these gospels can provide a reason to believe that Jesus and Mary were married)

–Evidences Against Jesus being Married–

We don’t need any, because there’s nothing to talk about. I can’t prove unicorns don’t exist, neither can I prove that Jesus and Mary weren’t married, but the lack of evidence in favor of unicorns or the marriage suggest that neither exist.

 

[weirdcatholic]

When it comes to Gnosticism, Christianity gets flipped over on it’s own head and turned upside down. They have really distorted idea of Christianity and tons and tons of works that they wrote. There is a large emphasis on knowledge being the key to salvation and the such.

Not sure if that helps contribute to the conversation. But that’s my two cents.

 

[edwest2]

Here’s an article that I think you’ll find helpful:

catholic.com/magazine/articles/was-jesus-married

Peace,
Ed

 

[gilliam]

Why do people wrongly think Jesus was married? Because they don’t read enough history.

It wasn’t unheard of for Jews around Jesus’ time not to marry. There was no Jewish custom that forbade Jewish men to remain unmarried. In fact, there were more Jewish men than women at the time and such a custom would have been hard to enforce.

We also know that many Essenes and most of the community behind the Dead Sea Scrolls were unmarried, celibate, Jewish males. In fact it seems to be somewhat common among religious Jews who thought the end times were imminent to not get married. Josephus tells us that Essenes existed in large numbers, and thousands lived throughout Roman Judea.

Mary Magdalene is only mentioned once in the Gospels prior to Jesus’ death, and when she is mentioned it is in passing. She has no prominence in the Gospels during Jesus’ ministry.

We know very little about the lineage of Mary Magdalene, we don’t even know if she comes from the house of David or not.

In the extra-canonical gospels women are treated poorly. Also, Jesus’ humanity is actually sidelined and his Godliness is emphasized in the extra-canonical gospels. Gnostics didn’t think Jesus was married. Even the Gospel of Philip says that Mary M. was a companion (the Coptic/Greek word used means friend, not lover or wife.) When the Gospel of Philip talks about a person’s wife it uses the word for wife, not companion. In the case of Mary and Jesus the work uses the word for companion. Also we need to realize though that the Gospel of Philip is thought to have been written at least 100 years after Jesus’ time on earth. It is hardly a first source anyway.

The works that we can trace that were written close to Jesus’ time are the letters of St. Paul and he tells us that Jesus was not married.

 

[Dave_Noonan]

Jesus Christ was never married. Not to Mary Magdalene, and not to anyone else. In fact, Jesus was a celibate virgin during his whole life.

Why did Gnostics think otherwise?
Why do some people today still think otherwise?

Because the Bible is silent on the topic, people feel free to speculate either way.

Most gnostics opposed marriage and sex and believed in strict asceticism/celebacy because of their view of the material world as evil.

 

[abucs]

Jesus Christ was never married. Not to Mary Magdalene, and not to anyone else. In fact, Jesus was a celibate virgin during his whole life.

Why do some people today still think otherwise?

In part, it diminishes the authority of the Church while it furthers the militant feminist cause and ultimate goal of female priests.

1st step remove celibate priesthood, 2nd step remove masculine priesthood.

My experience in Catholic Theology course run by atheist feminists at ACU was that any challenge to the orthodox view of the Church called into question it’s authority and competence and this could be extended to Church views on female ordination.

 

[Nan_S]

Jews in Jesus’ day were basically all married by a certain age. For Jesus to be unmarried would have been VERY unusual; virtually unheard of. However, some philosophers at the time speak of a few men who willingly choose not to marry, so there may have been a growing trend to be single.

Unusual? Paul was unmarried. And he was hardly the only one, since he wholeheartedly endorsed the virtues of single life.

 

[MarcoPolo]

It could be today people like to think he was married because our hyper-sexualized culture is terrified at the thought of celibacy. It’s a form of parthenophobia, fear of virginity.

 

[zz912]

–Evidences Against Jesus being Married–

We don’t need any, because there’s nothing to talk about. I can’t prove unicorns don’t exist, neither can I prove that Jesus and Mary weren’t married, but the lack of evidence in favor of unicorns or the marriage suggest that neither exist.

This isn’t true. We have a great deal of evidence, people just overlook it. Jesus has a Bride, the Bride of Christ. This is explicitly taught in the Bible and in Sacred Tradition. For Jesus to have a wife, and then also have a Bride, would be bigamy.

Jesus has only one Bride.

 

[SpidersfromMars]

Jews in Jesus’ day were basically all married by a certain age. For Jesus to be unmarried would have been VERY unusual; virtually unheard of.

For someone to be the Son of God was also very unusual…that’s what I would say in response to that claim

 

[drforjc]

It could be today people like to think he was married because our hyper-sexualized culture is terrified at the thought of celibacy. It’s a form of parthenophobia, fear of virginity.

I think you are onto something here. Other reasons probably exist as well, but I think this is definitely true.

 

[jochoa]

This isn’t true. We have a great deal of evidence, people just overlook it. Jesus has a Bride, the Bride of Christ. This is explicitly taught in the Bible and in Sacred Tradition. For Jesus to have a wife, and then also have a Bride, would be bigamy.

Jesus has only one Bride.

 

[bmonk]

The image of the Bride of Christ as the Church is a powerful argument for Jesus being unmarried. Also the development of virgins and monastics, as well as Paul’s arguments for staying unmarried–would they have come to be if there were not a strong witness for being unmarried?

How about Jeremiah, called by God to prophetic witness by having no wife? For a Jew, getting married and continuing the family to the next generation was important. It comes from the command in Genesis 1 to “be fruitful and multiply.” Out of that context, the appearance of virgins, widows and monks is a strong indication that something important has changed–and it most likely is Jesus being unmarried for the Kingdom.

Also, how about Matt 19:12? “Some are incapable of marriage because they were born so; some, because they were made so by others; some, because they have renounced marriage for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Whoever can accept this ought to accept it.”